Dry Sump Tank question

[Scott_]

Does anyone know if the Caterham triangular dry sump tank will fit in front of a Duratec in a S3 imperial chassis?    I have started a rather long term project of building a R500 spec 2.0l Duratec with a drysump to replace the engine in my 1999 K VVC series Caterham and am trying to make a decision about the Caterham tank or modifying the passenger footwell to make space for an off-the-shelf Patterson style tank.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott 

[pethier]

Why would you want to put more mass in front of the engine?

 

Your passenger does not need room for pedals.

[KnifeySpoony]

2 hours ago, pethier said:

Why would you want to put more mass in front of the engine?

 

 

Why would you want to reinvent the wheel and engineer/fabricate a new solution to a problem that already has an off the shelf and well tested solution?

Edited 8 hours ago by KnifeySpoony

[wdb]

I put my tank where the battery mounts, and moved the battery to just in front of the cowl. Different engine, same chassis. 

 

 

[pethier]

3 hours ago, KnifeySpoony said:

Why would you want to reinvent the wheel and engineer/fabricate a new solution to a problem that already has an off the shelf and well tested solution?

I thought Scott was asking if there WAS an off the shelf and well tested solution.

[KnifeySpoony]

The footwell tank can be bought but would require other engineering/plumbing solutions that are already solved by using the Caterham setup. Assuming it fits in his imperial chassis, everything would be plug and play. Maybe I'm just lazy and I hate modifying stuff. But it seems any improvised solution can trigger a set of unintended consequences and further troubleshooting.

[pethier]

38 minutes ago, KnifeySpoony said:

The footwell tank can be bought but would require other engineering/plumbing solutions that are already solved by using the Caterham setup. Assuming it fits in his imperial chassis, everything would be plug and play. Maybe I'm just lazy and I hate modifying stuff. But it seems any improvised solution can trigger a set of unintended consequences and further troubleshooting.

So, you are saying that the Caterham triangular dry sump tank will fit in front of a Duratec in a S3 imperial chassis?    

[KnifeySpoony]

That's what we're all here to find out. 

[Scott_]

Thanks everyone for your comments/feedback.

 

I also reached out to Caterham and asked the question and no response so far.  

 

Does anyone have the dimensions of that tank?   If I had that I can do some measuring.

 

From the photos I have found, the chassis tubes  in front of the engine timing cover is similar in design except that newer frames have a hole where the chassis tubes meet for the tank to mount to.   I haven't checked mine to see if it has that.   I'm using the photos below without permission, the one with the tank pictured comes from https://www.caterham7diaries.com/post/dry-sump-tank-install  The one of the imperial chassis... from racecars direct.

 

Issues with the tank in front of the engine aside, I'd prefer the ease of that over modifying the passenger footwell, which I believe I'd have to do on my car to get a tank there.

 

I did reach out to some local folks today and I could have a triangular tank fabricated for far less than the 900uk, plus shipping and tariffs (ouch).   I think a triangular design using .125" aluminum sheet without the curves would be easy to draw up in Fusion 360 and the aluminum bungs/fittings are available at a variety of places on the internet.  The only concern would be proper oil/air separation.  The Caterham tank appears to deal with that with internal plates, probably drilled or slotted, for the oil to flow down through.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

Edited 50 minutes ago by Scott_